Well, duh. Loot is absolutely at the centre of the Borderlands 2 experience. It showers from the corpses of every downed enemy, and awaits the player in chests across Pandora. Hell, some enemies have treasure chests built into their bodies. One that we came across had a huge slot machine on his back, so when he’s down you can go and pull the handle. Your reward? Heaping great piles of cash.

As mentioned earlier, the green and red arrow stat indicators help make finding better weaponry a little more straightforward, but at the end of the day, if you don't love loot and incrementally improving your character's skills and gear, you're probably not going to love Borderlands 2.

One other thing that’s worth mentioning is that – unlike something like Diablo III – players must share loot. There’s no individual loot system. If you open a chest and take everything inside it your co-op buddies won’t have anything to grab. This adds to the need for communication amongst members of a co-op party. There is, however, a good menu-driven system in place for trading weapons, so if you pick up something that’s better suited to another player you can always give it to them or trade it.

As if a battle like this wasn't cool enough, a shower of loot is your reward.

Thy Foes Shall Challenge Thee

Borderlands 2 throws significantly more enemy types and enemy variations at the player than the original. Not only will you come across a host of elemental versions of enemies, there are badass variants too: larger, tougher foes that deal more damage. So the mobs are more varied, but they’re also larger. Firefights get pretty intense as players take on large groups and try to use weapons with effective elemental damage.

Enemies can be surprising too. Threshers move about underneath the ground, popping up with tentacles sticking out in several places. You’ll face large and small versions simultaneously, as well as incendiary variants that toss fire at the player. One insect type buries itself in the ground, creating a pod from which a far deadlier version emerges. Some enemies have crystals on their bodies that can be destroyed to reveal weak points. The bipedal loader robots, on the other hand, come in all shapes and sizes. Some fire rockets, some charge the player, some are suicide bombers, some have spinning propellers on their chests that deflect bullets back at the shooter. They take incremental damage too, letting players blast limbs off and disarm them.

Adding to the intensity of firefights is the ability to ‘fight for your life’ when you’re almost dead. Kill an enemy in this state before you die and you’ll get a second wind and avoid re-spawning at the last checkpoint. Team mates can also revive you.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and if that’s the case then Diablo should be blushing right now because Borderlands 2 has taken that series’ setting – Sanctuary – and incorporated it into its own world. In Borderlands 2, however, Sanctuary is a town, and in our most recent hands-on it served as the hub for all our missions.

Truthfully, the name is likely little more than a coincidence or subtle nod to Blizzard’s titan, because the town of Sanctuary bears more in common with a frontier town in the Wild West than it does anything from Blizzard’s classics. It’s an interesting mash-up of Wild West, science fiction and pop sensibilities. Neon signs light up buildings, huge billboards with graf-inspired logos advertise local stores, but the whole place feels rundown and cobbled together. The laidback moody music also helps sell the frontier town feel.

Yup, that's a dude playing a banjo on the left.

Of course, Sanctuary is just one location in Pandora. The game world of Borderlands 2 is twice the size of the original, so there’s a lot of ground to cover. Another urban location we’ve seen is a Hyperion city called Opportunity, which is much more futuristic in design; definitely more of a straight-laced sci-fi look, while the wilderness will cover jungles, icy mountaintops, swamps and a whole lot more.

Humour Shall Be Integral

Borderlands 2 has a much heavier focus on humour than the original, but from what we've seen that's a double-edged sword. On the one hand, Claptrap's antics are amusing and many of the characters are extreme and fun. Who wouldn’t chuckle when Marcus the gunsmith quips “looks like it works to me” after shooting a customer in the leg with the gun he claims is faulty? The game also does a good job injecting both personality and story via on-screen pop-ups from various characters as they run and gun. The main villain - Handsome Jack - talks directly to the player this way, and it looks like it will work well.

On the other hand, if Tiny Tina is anything to go by, then Gearbox may get it seriously wrong at times. This character is nothing short of cringeworthy. By all means create a hyper-energetic child psychopath, but it can’t feel this forced. And can we leave the dated slang behind? The shizzle for rizzle? Sorry, no. Good thing the mission's still fun.

Swing and a miss.

For the moment let’s give Gearbox the benefit of the doubt and say Tiny Tina is an isolated mistake. Let’s also hope Gearbox can find the right personality/mission balance with the far more prevalent number of side-missions in the game.

Co-op Shall Rule All

Not too surprising to see this one pop up on the ol’ stone tablets. Borderlands 2 is all about the shared experience. This game will be at its absolute best with three mates, blazing your way across Pandora. While you may have to share loot, there are just so many advantages that come with multiple players. You can balance your skill sets to handle just about any situation, and you can choose skills and perks that buff the group. The action skills in particular can be used strategically for maximum effect. Phaselock an enemy with the Siren at the same time the Gunzerker activates his dual wield ability and your Commando tosses down a turret. Plus, more players means more enemies which means more chaos which means more fun.